After Criticizing Bankers, Mexican Cartoonist's Account Canceled

A man who produces comics lampooning the banking industry in one of Mexico's largest newspapers has now run into trouble with the country's second-largest bank. Rafael Barajas Durán, who goes by the pseudonym El Fisgón, tells media outlets that Banamex abruptly canceled an account that he had used for more than ten years.

“They didn't warn me, and they only said that it was in their best interest,” says Barajas Durán to the Mexico City-based newspaper La Jornada, which publishes his work. For more than twenty years Barajas Durán has used his pen to poke fun at the country's political leaders. His social commentary includes criticizing the government's response to the financial crisis and the takeover of Mexico's banking industry by foreign corporations.

(A cartoon by El Fisgón, titled X-ray of the Banking System)

Banamex claims that the corporation sent Barajas Durán three letters advising him that he needed to update information on his account to avoid having it closed. The cartoonist says he never received any letters and states that the bank made no effort to confirm he had gotten the mail.

“They have to make sure I received [the letters] because this is a delicate matter. My account is canceled. This is a procedural error that works against me,” Barajas Durán is quoted as saying. He points out that he didn't know his account was closed until he tried to cash a check and was turned away.

Narco News had its own run-in with Banamex in 2000, when the the bank sued the newspaper after it published a report linking then CEO Roberto Hernández Ramírez to drug trafficking. The case was taken to the New York Supreme Court and the suit was thrown out, creating a legal precedent that secured First Amendment protections for online publications.

Banamex was later acquired by the foreign corporation Citigroup, highlighting, in a way, Hernández Ramírez's criticism about banks being owned by companies outside of Mexico. The country's largest bank, BBVA Bancomer, is owned by Spain's Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria.

While it's unclear what will happen to funds inside the account, El Fisgón tells the media that “I think it's already time for users to start demanding more ethical banking.”